Tag Archives: Teen Voices

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Teen Voices need your help. Because of a recent decrease in funding, they’re at a crisis. The organization must raise $300,000 by August 1. Yes, it’s that bad.

For nearly 25 years, girls and young women in Boston and beyond have counted on Teen Voices to provide a positive, girl-friendly space to grow as writers and leaders. Teen Voices is not going down without a fight.

Their girl-generated magazine is the only publication of its kind. Thousands of girls around the globe count on Teen Voices to publish their work and offer honest, positive stories that address real issues in their lives.

The good news is their magazine and our afterschool program are stronger than ever. They’ve produced two excellent issues in the past year and over 225 online articles—including interviews with inspiring girls in action and powerful leading ladies like Donna Brazile, Jennifer Buffett, and Maria Hinojosa. And let’s not forget to mention the waiting list for their afterschool and summer journalism program. Their Boston-based teens consistently show growth in perseverance, social efficacy, and acceptance of others.

With a strong and dedicated staff and an army of passionate teens and volunteers, they are poised to take Teen Voices to the next level in 2013, reaching many more girls worldwide. With a vision to increase our web traffic tenfold—they hope to become the go-to place for smart girl media. Teen Voices has plans—and even a grant!—to make teenvoices.com an interactive, smartphone-friendly forum for girls to amplify their voices.

It’s all within reach.

But right now, they need funds to get around this challenging corner and move their organization to a stronger future. With your help, Teen Voices can partner and transform to amplify the voices of girls. Whether you can afford $5, $50 or $5,000, every donation brings Teen Voices closer.

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This year, Vault.com recognized Teen Voices as one of the top ten internship programs in the nation in both the categories of Creative/Liberal Arts and Non-Profit. Each year, we work with more than 100 interns and volunteers and we are honored to receive this recognition. Teen Voices couldn’t survive without the dedication and support of our interns! It’s time to put some faces to all those amazing interns Vault.com mentioned!

Without further ado, we’d like you to meet our summer interns!

Editorial interns Anya and Carolyn busy scanning submissions.

Our editorial interns process all the submissions we receive from teen girls all around the world!

Meghan McPhilemy, Emmanuel College, 2011

Major: English, Communications, and Cultural Studies and Minor in Psychology (Health and Counseling)

What are your future plans and dreams? I would love to keep working with young girls and the media. It’s important that our voices are heard!

Rebecca Klein, Brandeis University, 2012

Major: Politics/American Studies and Minor in Journalism

What do you hope to learn at Teen Voices? I hope to learn more about the skills needed to put out a professional publication!

Anya Krenicki, Boston University, 2013

Major: English/Journalism

What do you hope to learn at Teen Voices? Besides learning the ‘inside scoop’ of the editing world and practical work experience, I hope to come away from Teen Voices with knowledge in how to create social change through positive media for young girls.

Carolyn Schweitzer, Brandeis University, 2012

Major: Psychology, Women’s and Gender Studies, and English Literature

Why did you want to intern at Teen Voices? I wanted to combine my interests in women’s issues with my exploration of a possible career in publishing. I believe that the written word can be a powerful tool for young women to both express themselves and to reach out to others.

Our development interns are hard at work organizing and creating a new filing system for our foundations and donors.

Development intern Mary working hard to organize files.

Mary Gilcoine, Emmanuel College, 2014

Major: English Literature and Writing

What do you hope to learn at Teen Voices? I hope to learn more about how a magazine works and the issues that this particular magazine addresses.

Olivia James, Elon University, 2014

Major: English and Communications

Why did you want to intern at Teen Voices? I was interested in learning more about development. As an alumna of an all-girls’ school, the message of empowering girls stood out to me.

Elyse Lebel, Connecticut College, 2012

Major: Psychology and Sociology

Why did you want to intern at Teen Voices? I enjoyed the message promoted by Teen Voices—empowering young girls and encouraging social change through the media. With such a powerful message, Teen Voices was the perfect place for me to intern!

Valencia Patilla, Emmanuel College, 2010

Major: Communications, Media and Cultural Studies

After her time at Teen Voices, Valencia is excited about what the future holds. She hopes to attend graduate school with a focus in Global Marketing and Advertising.

Program interns Jean and Sara take a break to smile for the camera

We would be absolutely lost without our program interns, who work to create materials and organize workshops for our teen editors. May we introduce Jean and Sara.

Jean Lee, Wellesley College, 2013

Major: Sociology

What do you hope to learn at Teen Voices? I hope to learn how to connect with other girls in the Boston community. I want to relate to others so that I can support them in any way they need.

Sara Davey, Boston College, 2014

Major: Communications

Why did you want to intern at Teen Voices? I believe that this organization does great things for teen girls and, this summer, I want the opportunity to take part in it! I also want to gain experience in journalism and writing.

Last, but certainly not least, we’d like to give a special shout out to our Marketing Intern, Ann. We’re so excited to have you back at Teen Voices!

Ann Situ, Bentley University, 2014

Major: Marketing

Why did you want to intern at Teen Voices? I wanted to give back to Teen Voices. I was involved in Teen Voices’ SHOUT program over a year ago. It was a life-changing experience and I wanted to help continue this program for teens in the future.

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Calling all teen girls! Are you a Change Agent? Teen Voices wants to know where you create social change! How are you making a difference this holiday season? Are you volunteering at a local food pantry or homeless shelter? Caroling at nursing homes and hospitals? Are you donating winter coats, hats, scarves and mittens? Or maybe you tutor students. No matter where or how you create social change, we want to see how YOU are changing the world!

Becoming a Change Agent is simple! Follow these three steps and you can be a Change Agent too.

1. Bring Teen Voices magazine along with you the next time you volunteer or find another way to make the world a better place.

2. Snap a photo of yourself in action. Be sure to include the magazine in the photo!

Being a teen editor at Teen Voices brings with it a lot of experiences, togetherness, laughter, and learning. Our teen editors compiled a list of the things they have recently learned about relationships, hip hop, life, and each other. See if any of them sound familiar, and you may just learn something new!

• People almost always want to be your friend and it’s almost always worth the effort to be friends with them.
• Giant companies own many radio stations and control what we listen to.
• Looks don’t always reveal what’s going on inside. Actually, it doesn’t reveal much at all.
• You don’t need to specifically need to have a conversation with someone to feel close to them. Just sharing experiences shows trust and trust can make you feel close.
• When guys take care of their children (like they should in the first place) it shouldn’t be especially looked upon or praised because that’s what is expected.
• Media has a major impact on our lives when it shouldn’t.
• All the girls here have a lot in common as far as what they have been through in life.
• The power of a group is the most healing, beneficial and cleansing. There are many things that are not achievable individually that are possible to overcome in a group.
• The moment you give in to being yourself and overcome your shyness in a new environment there is a feeling of liberation and extreme happiness.
• I don’t always think about the music I listen to.
• The girls who seem the meanest are often the ones who have been through the most in life.
• Women don’t have an independent role in the hip hop world as much as I thought, especially after seeing how Beyonce dances around Jay-Z.
• You have to pay attention to the things you say, because you never know how other people are going to take it.
• A positive community can bring the best out of people.
• Making a difference in the world starts with you.

Actress, author, and playwright Anna Deavere Smith performed at Teen Voices’ annual fundraising event, Amplify, on April 14. In this clip from her performance, she talks about a race riot that took place in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights, and portrays a Jewish woman who lives in the neighborhood. The message in this piece, Smith says, is that we can learn to solve problems when we collaborate, or “extend ourselves out from what we know.”

On April 14, 2010, Teen Voices will celebrate girls recreating media at our fourth annual AMPLIFY fundraising event! This year, we will celebrate the redesign and relaunch of Teen Voices magazine and TeenVoices.com.

We are thrilled to announce Anna Deavere Smith as our keynote speaker for the event. The actor, playwright, and teacher enjoys a remarkably wide-ranging and respected career. Critics and audiences nationwide have acclaimed Smith’s work, which explores the American character and our multifaceted national identity.

Smith is best known for her documentary theatre style in plays such as Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles; in both, she played multiple and diverse roles written from interviews and archives of actual events. Teen Voices is excited to welcome Smith as our keynote speaker!

The January 12 earthquake off the coast of Port-au-Prince has impacted an estimated 3 million Haitians, with the death toll expected to be in the tens of thousands. Emergency relief workers are having difficulty delivering aid and supplies as a result of demolished roads, buildings and other infrastructure. At Teen Voices, we hope to see the global community continue to band together and provide relief in the wake of this immense tragedy.

Teen Voices has many girls in our journalism mentoring program who have relatives and other loved ones in Haiti. On behalf of Teen Voices’ board members and staff, we send our thoughts and condolences to the girls in our program who have lost loved ones in this tragedy. We would like to remind them that, as always, our office is open if they feel we can help in any way—a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, or just a space to connect with their friends and mentors. We are thinking of you, and of teen girls around the world who have been similarly impacted by this tragedy.

Teen Voices would like to encourage anyone who is able to donate to the disaster relief efforts in Haiti. Even a small amount makes a difference, and if everyone gives a little bit, it adds up quickly.

Here are some organizations to donate to.

American Red Crossredcross.org
800-HELP-NOW
Donations can be made online. Text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10.

About Teen Voices

Teen Voices is an intensive journalism mentoring and leadership development program for teen girls in Boston. Our mission is to support and educate teen girls, amplify their voices, and create social change through media.

Through this program, and with submissions from girls around the world, the teens create an internationally distributed online and print magazine by, for, and about teen girls. Teen Voices is positive and empowering, and amplifies girls' real voices in a world filled with media focused on what girls look like—not what they think. Join us at teenvoices.com!